IN OUR OPINION

A blessing, a challenge

Published: Sunday, September 8, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, September 6, 2013 at 6:10 p.m.

Marion Senior Services touches hundreds of lives in our community every day. This month marks the 40th anniversary of this community success story that uplifts our elders on a daily basis by providing a host of personal services that allows virtually thousands of our senior friends and neighbors to remain in their homes, rather than being institutionalized.

The Marion Senior Services story is a remarkable one. It started in 1973 “with an idea and a $100 check from Blessed Trinity Church” to provide meals to some of Ocala's neediest senior citizens. The program grew quickly, First Presbyterian Church got involved, and it became a United Way agency.

Skip forward to 2013. Today, Senior Services resides in a modern 15,000-square-foot facility in west Ocala and provides transportation through its fleet of 24 vehicles to some 700 county residents each day. It also continues to deliver Meals on Wheels to homebound residents, providing not only food but human contact to about 400 people daily.

Its services go far beyond food and rides to the doctor or the store. Senior Services provides assistance for the disabled, respite for family caregivers, homemaking services and a congregate feeding program at a dozen sites around Marion County.

Its mission is simple: “Assisting the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged residents of Marion County to maintain independent living status.”

Simple but also noble and humanitarian. Maintaining independence is healthier physically and emotionally for most seniors, while the cost of providing services such as provided by Senior Services is far more economical than paying for institutional care like assisted living or a nursing home. In fact, the state Department of Elder Affairs estimates the cost to be about one-sixth.

But while Senior Services currently serves more than 10,000 separate individuals each year through its various services, the need exceeds the agency's abilities. There is a waiting list of nearly 500 people seeking help.

But what worries us most, and the administrators and volunteers of Senior Services, is what the future holds.

People are living longer. Better medical care means people are surviving and living with more complex medical issues. Meanwhile, state and federal funding for Senior Services is dwindling. How do we keep this wonderful program going and, indeed, growing?

“The demographics are only going to grow, and the problem is only going to grow bigger,” Senior Services Executive Director Sarah Stroh told us.

“You can see the tsunami coming, and I don't know if we have enough life preservers,” she said in an interview earlier this year with the Star-Banner. “We see such need, and we can see the need coming down the pike.”

Marion Senior Services is a precious community service that makes life better for so many. What its programs and people provide to the seniors of Ocala/Marion County is life-expanding and life-extending. We heartily cheer the landmark 40th anniversary of Marion Senior Services with heartfelt gratitude. It is a blessing upon our community.

But the need and the mission are only going to get more demanding. The community should use this anniversary celebration to begin a serious conversation about how it is going to take care of an ever-greater population of elder citizens over the next 40 years.

<p>Marion Senior Services touches hundreds of lives in our community every day. This month marks the 40th anniversary of this community success story that uplifts our elders on a daily basis by providing a host of personal services that allows virtually thousands of our senior friends and neighbors to remain in their homes, rather than being institutionalized.</p><p>The Marion Senior Services story is a remarkable one. It started in 1973 “with an idea and a $100 check from Blessed Trinity Church” to provide meals to some of Ocala's neediest senior citizens. The program grew quickly, First Presbyterian Church got involved, and it became a United Way agency.</p><p>Skip forward to 2013. Today, Senior Services resides in a modern 15,000-square-foot facility in west Ocala and provides transportation through its fleet of 24 vehicles to some 700 county residents each day. It also continues to deliver Meals on Wheels to homebound residents, providing not only food but human contact to about 400 people daily.</p><p>Its services go far beyond food and rides to the doctor or the store. Senior Services provides assistance for the disabled, respite for family caregivers, homemaking services and a congregate feeding program at a dozen sites around Marion County.</p><p>Its mission is simple: “Assisting the elderly, disabled and disadvantaged residents of Marion County to maintain independent living status.”</p><p>Simple but also noble and humanitarian. Maintaining independence is healthier physically and emotionally for most seniors, while the cost of providing services such as provided by Senior Services is far more economical than paying for institutional care like assisted living or a nursing home. In fact, the state Department of Elder Affairs estimates the cost to be about one-sixth.</p><p>But while Senior Services currently serves more than 10,000 separate individuals each year through its various services, the need exceeds the agency's abilities. There is a waiting list of nearly 500 people seeking help.</p><p>But what worries us most, and the administrators and volunteers of Senior Services, is what the future holds.</p><p>People are living longer. Better medical care means people are surviving and living with more complex medical issues. Meanwhile, state and federal funding for Senior Services is dwindling. How do we keep this wonderful program going and, indeed, growing?</p><p>“The demographics are only going to grow, and the problem is only going to grow bigger,” Senior Services Executive Director Sarah Stroh told us.</p><p>“You can see the tsunami coming, and I don't know if we have enough life preservers,” she said in an interview earlier this year with the Star-Banner. “We see such need, and we can see the need coming down the pike.”</p><p>Marion Senior Services is a precious community service that makes life better for so many. What its programs and people provide to the seniors of Ocala/Marion County is life-expanding and life-extending. We heartily cheer the landmark 40th anniversary of Marion Senior Services with heartfelt gratitude. It is a blessing upon our community.</p><p>But the need and the mission are only going to get more demanding. The community should use this anniversary celebration to begin a serious conversation about how it is going to take care of an ever-greater population of elder citizens over the next 40 years.</p>